The Nativity of Mary

This week the church celebrated the birth of Mary. We all wore her special color - blue!  And like all birthdays, we needed to have birthday cards, cake with candles and singing "Happy Birthday" as well.  New this year, we used a homemade puffy paint recipe and used it to decorate paper slices of cake.  Thanks so much to Lacy for the idea!!  

It was super easy!  Super cute!  Super fun!!!

(We will definitely be pulling out this craft when we celebrate Jesus' birthday in December!)  

First, the kids colored, cut out, and folded the slice of cake.  

 Next I used a recipe of flour, salt, water and food coloring to make the puffy paint paste.  (1 T. self rising flour, 1 T. salt, around 2 T. water and then a few drops of food coloring of your choice) 

 Then paint the puffy paint on the slice of cake with a paint brush or q-tip...

 

  And the action takes place at the next step...  microwave each painted piece of cake for 30 seconds.  Waaah laaah!

And, now to piece all the pieces together...

We had some extra paint, so the kids painted some cards and pictures.  They couldn't let any of that cool paint go to waste! 

All for Mary on her birthday...

A very blessed birthday indeed!
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.  Amen!! 

Our new 10 year old and his Mario party

Well, Fone is officially TEN now!  And, since we homeschool, we even took the day off to celebrate his birthday ALL day long!  His party with his friends was a couple days after his actual birthdate, and as you can see below, he chose a Mario theme. I used to be the one to plan the theme, games and food for birthday parties, but as the kids have gotten older, they have taken on the fun in planning their own parties.  I love to see how much it means to them and to see their creativity go wild!  It's such a joy of parenting!  Anyways, the menu of party was very simple - cheese pizza, chips, grapes, jello jigglers and a lovely decorated Mario cake.  Fone had made his own Mario pinata (and I didn't even get a picture - wahhh!  My camera battery had died.).  He used a cardboard box, stuffed it with candy and covered it in yellow construction paper decorated with white question marks to symbolize the Mario question/mystery block.  He made all his decorations and planned the games too.  Fone wrote over ten clues for a scavenger hunt and the treasure was the mystery block (pinata).  They played "Capture the Flag", "What time is it Mr. Koopa?" and of course, a Mario game on the wii.  May God continue to bless this wonderful child of mine!! 

10 candles, 10 years - what a blessing it is to have been a mom that long!

Fone, 10 years old

Phew, he got them all!

decorations made by Fone (and some by Mario)

more decorations

a simple meal to fill hungry bellies

the birthday party crew

Yum, yum!

Fone being ever so careful lighting his own candles

Cake!!